Asuka became the WWE Women’s Champion on Friday’s SmackDown after handing over her RAW Women’s Title. This was yet another example of WWE working to streamline their titles, as we’ve seen recently with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, and as we’ll see in two weeks when WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn face WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler in a title unification match.
According to a new report from Fightful Select, a WWE source confirmed the obvious – that Asuka’s presentation ceremony was done to clear up the RAW and SmackDown title situation due to the WWE Draft. An exchange was rumored, similar to what WWE did with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in 2021, but they went in a completely different direction.
WWE officials also wanted Asuka’s belt to resemble Reigns’ new belt in order to keep everything on an even keel, as has been the case for several years.
It was also revealed that SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley’s title will be changed, either in name or appearance, or possibly both.
Concerning the Women’s Tag Team Titles being unified, word has it that when the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles were formed in March 2021, many in NXT were confused as to why they were created in the first place. However, since the WWE Draft, WWE has considered combining the two sets of Women’s Tag Team Titles.
The Undisputed WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles will now appear on NXT programming as needed, which was the original plan for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. According to WWE sources, if not for the unfortunate injuries in the women’s division, this unification would have happened sooner. Fightful were told, “there were plans in order to combine the NXT and WWE Women’s tag titles going back to April when the WWE Draft occurred.”
It was also noted that one source’s annoyance with WWE was a simple misuse of the term “Undisputed” in two cases. Despite the fact that Rollins is also a world champion on the roster, Reigns’ title is being referred to as an undisputed title. Furthermore, despite the fact that Ripley is also a women’s champion, Asuka’s new title has “That’s admittedly confusing. I don’t know why there is an insistence on doing that, and a lot of people have brought that up and it’s been dismissed,” a WWE higher-up said.
